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Business as usual despite COVID-19

BY T. M. COOKS

PASADENA, CA – At Stanford, classes are cancelled. At MIT, large events are suspended. At Caltech, however, despite the recent COVID-19 outbreak, the institute’s operations are unlikely to deviate from the norm. Joe Shepherd, Vice President for Student Affairs, explained: “Caltech students don’t do anything but work in their rooms and sleep. They don’t even go to class. The likelihood of the virus spreading on campus is negligible.”

If any student believes they have contracted COVID-19, Director of Campus Security Victor Clay’s instructions are to behave as they would anyway: “Skip class. Engage in minimal social interaction. Stay in your room as much as possible, and avoid going off-campus.”

Other campuses are implementing more extreme measures to contain the virus, such as 20-second hand-washing protocols. “At this time, we don’t think it’s necessary to take such drastic measures as proper hygiene,” says Mark Stapf, Health Advocate Program Instructor. “For the Caltech student body, self-imposed quarantines should be far easier to implement than hand-washing, or even showering.”